Events of November 4 -
Tuesday November 4, 1879 - Will Rodgers born.
Monday November 4, 1918 - Actor Art Carney born.
Saturday November 4, 1922 - Howard Carter's archaeological team uncovered the entrance to King Tut's tomb.
Sunday November 4, 1956 -Soviet tanks invaded Budapest Hungary which put a brutal end to the Hungarian Revolution. Citizens tried to fight the soldiers with their own guns but to no avail.
Sunday November 4, 1979 - Iranian students stormed the American Embassy and took more than 60 hostages. A week later President Carter declared an oil embargo on Iran. The hostages were held until Tuesday January 20, 1981 when Ronald Reagan took office.
Tuesday November 4, 1980 - Ronald Reagan beats Jimmy Carter in a landslide election.
Tuesday November 4, 2008 - Barrack Obama is elected America's President over John McCain.
Which do you think is the truth. beliefs are formed through your memories or do beliefs determine memories? Think about it. If you have memories of being a good student but you remember being the last one picked for teams in gym class, you probably formed the belief that you are smart but not athletic. If you have beliefs that you are a handy person than you probably do not balk when you are asked to put up a ceiling fan.So your memories determine your beliefs.
However, your beliefs can determine which memories you are able to recall. If you do believe that you are not athletic you may not remember the time that you made two game saving catches in Little League, but you do remember striking out to end your teams season.
Sometimes you are forced to re think your beliefs when you have evidence to the contrary staring you in the face. Suppose you believe that all cyclists are drug addicted street gang members. One night you are at a party and you see someone arrive on their cycle, They come in and start talking about their doctoral program that they are in and how their gang of weekend warriors raised $10,000 for their churches mission to Haiti. You would have to revise that belief.
Being open minded can help you retrieve more memories that you may have suppressed. It can be fun and rewarding to recall good memories. I am not advocating that anyone should lose focus on the present and be "stuck" in the past, but it can be fun to retrieve old good memories. Considering how many people have reconnected with old schoolmates on facebook, it is fun to re live the good parts of the past.
